


One Night in Baja

by Candyoranges



Category: Eureka (TV)
Genre: Accidental Pregnancy, F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship, Female!Jack Carter, M/M, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Nathan is Zoe's biological father
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2020-10-13 19:56:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20588213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Candyoranges/pseuds/Candyoranges
Summary: Nathan had returned to Eureka with the express purpose of winning back his family. He knew Allison might be angry and it might take some persuasion, but he was prepared for that. What he hadn’t expected was to run into a former one-night stand from a Spring Break trip to Baja sixteen years ago – or her fifteen-year-old daughter.





	1. Familiar Faces

“Nathan?!”

At the sound of Allison’s voice, the new director of Global Dynamics turned from where he’d been giving orders to Fargo. _The moment of truth. _

“Allison! I probably should have called, shouldn’t I?” Peripherally he noticed a blonde woman standing behind Allison, but his attention was almost entirely focused on drinking in the form of _his wife_. She looked as stunning as ever. She also seemed irritated.

It was the faint choking noise from the blonde woman that finally drew his concentration away. Slightly tall for a woman, her khaki uniform and star clearly marked her as part of Eureka’s sheriff’s department. He didn’t remember anyone on staff besides Cobb and Lupo before he left, but nevertheless her face was bombarding him with a strong sense of déjà vu. Judging by the stunned look in her blue eyes, he wasn’t the only one.

Luckily Allison saved him from racking his curiosity for too long.

“This is Jackie Carter, Eureka’s new sheriff.”

Nathan shook her hand a little numbly. _Jackie Carter._ He remembered her now – from an ill-advised trip to Baja over sixteen years ago. He had been in grad school at the time, and his lab-mates had talked him into the trip. It was the only time he could remember _laughing_ during intercourse without it breaking the mood. The only time, actually, where sex had been diverting in the sense of amusement as well as pleasure.

_Well, shit._ A former one-night stand moving to town was not what he needed while he was trying to win back his estranged wife. (In other circumstances he might have entertained the thought of a repeat performance, honestly, but Allison and Kevin were his _family_ and he wasn’t willing to give up those dreams without a fight. It was why he had returned to Eureka after all.)

/////////////

Despite his better judgement, Nathan found himself scanning through the files for one Jacqueline Carter later that day. Beneath her personal records (married, divorced, teenage daughter), he sought out her service records. He had a faint memory of her mentioning the Police Academy on that night sixteen years ago, and according to her file she must have been just shy of graduating at the time. After a few years with the L.A.P.D., she then spent over a decade with the U.S. Marshals. Those classified files which he was able to access contained a wealth of information about her past experience and skillset. If she were anyone else, he would simply nod to himself that the new sheriff seemed relatively qualified for the position and leave it at that. Unfortunately, she was not anyone else and he was still uncomfortable with this blast from the past occurring concurrently with his attempts to reconcile with Allison.

He scanned through the files again, with the itchy feeling that he was missing something. At least Carter had been content to remain professional and not make a scene. He hoped that they could both simply continue to ignore that moment of recognition and pretend none of any of it had ever happened. With that decided, Nathan closed all the files and forcibly turned his mind back to catching up on everything he’d missed during the last year.

/////////////

Nathan was working late in his office a few days later when he heard someone knocking on his door. Having finally resolved the whole Walter Perkins situation safely, he had hoped to continue reacquainting himself with all of G.D.’s current projects.

When Sheriff Carter entered and closed the door behind her, he sighed irritably. Apparently, his wish for silence was not going to be accommodated for long. This was corroborated as she immediately launched into asking about his memories of _that night_.

“I remember it.” He cut her off brusquely, not wanting to reminisce about that night so many years ago.

“Yeah, good. I mean, okay, maybe not, and I’m sorry for making things awkward or difficult or whatever, especially with Allison, but you’ll probably figure it out sooner or later, if you haven’t already, and really I should be the one to tell you...” 

The blonde woman was fidgeting nervously, and he simply did not want to deal with whatever this was. Allison was still stonewalling him, and he didn’t need another complication in the form of a babbling sheriff.

“Is there a point you are intending to make? I’m a busy man and I have work to do.” He felt a little guilty when she actually flinched at his response, but not enough to regret hurrying the conversation along.

“I have a daughter.” 

Nathan just stared at her blankly; it’s not like that wasn’t common knowledge. He’d seen it listed in her personnel file right below her former marriage and divorce, and he’d caught a glimpse of mother and daughter together in town a few times.

“A _fifteen-year-old_ daughter.” Pause. “_Your_ daughter.”

_His…_ Nathan wasn’t sure his brain had ever just stopped before. Thoughts raced through his head and simultaneously crashed to a dead halt. _Sixteen years ago… Daughter… Holy shit… Baja…Shitshitshitshit._

It was fortunate that Carter was giving him the chance to digest the information, because he wasn’t sure he’d have heard anything if she’d continued at that moment. He had a million questions, but the most pressing one escaped first. “What makes you think she’s mine?”

He thought she might be insulted, but she just smiled self-consciously. “Well, you were the only person it could have been time-wise, but it’s not like I’ve really ever been able to check. Especially since I wasn’t able to locate you after I found out, which I’m sorry for by the way.” Rather than dwelling on that point however (_he’d lost fifteen years with his daughter_), she reached into her pocket and pulled out a plastic baggie with some strands of blonde hair. “From Zoe’s hairbrush. I figured you’d probably want to run your own tests.”

She placed the baggie on his desk, and he simply stared at it but didn’t reach out to pick it up. Carter sighed. “Right, I’ll just let you process everything. You know where to find me if you want to talk.”

The sheriff was almost to the door before he finally managed to convince his brain and mouth to work together again. “Does she know?” 

“No.” She looked over her shoulder at him. “Whether or not I ever tell her is up to you. Now, go run your tests.” Then she was gone. 

He unclenched his hands from where they’d apparently been gripping the edge of his desk and stared once more at the pale hairs in front of him. He ruminated on Carter’s penultimate words; she had left him an out. He could ignore this and pretend he’d never found out, and nothing would change – but he knew he could never do that. _He had a daughter._ He'd have to talk to Jackie about child support, college funds, custody arrangements... but he was getting ahead of himself. First, he had to run those tests and be absolutely sure. Maybe then the shock would have worn off enough for him to decide what he was going to do next.

/////////////

Later that evening, he regarded the positive DNA match in front of him and felt the curl of hysteria rise up in him again. Jackie had been right though; he should have figured it out immediately. There were so many signs he should have picked up on. Most damning, of course, was her age and birthdate, but there was also the fact that Zoe used her mother’s last name and not the name of Jackie Carter’s ex-husband. Had there been any visual cues he had missed – did she inherit any of his facial features? He’d never looked at Zoe closely enough to notice, and now he was desperately wishing he had. His sole comfort was that he hoped to have many more opportunities in the future.


	2. Rocky Conversations

Henry looked both surprised and somewhat worried when Nathan knocked on his door at nearly midnight. Nathan knew that his disheveled appearance from pacing and running his fingers through his hair probably did not help to dissuade the impression that something had gone wrong at Global. 

Nathan was not someone who liked to share his problems, and especially not when those problems tied into his emotions. _(He was pretty sure Allison would freely testify to that fact.)_ This sudden news left him floundering however, and thoughts kept bouncing around inside his head like in a high-frequency electromagnetic field. He needed to talk to _somebody_ about this, and he wasn’t ready to discuss it all with Allison until he had once again mastered his own thoughts – the conversation with her would undoubtedly end in an argument and he wanted his position firm at that time. So, here he was with Henry. As a seemingly confirmed bachelor, he might not be the logical first choice, but he had an emotive understanding of people that Nathan lacked. _(Nathan honestly also didn’t have anyone else.)_

“Is everything alright, Nathan?”

The query roused him enough from his thoughts to hand over the datapad in his hand, the one that showed the probable genetic connection between one Nathan Stark and one Zoe Carter. He watched Henry’s eyes skim over the data quickly, then pause, jump back, and read through all the information more carefully.

“I think you better come in and sit down, Nathan.” After escorting him back into the kitchen and pouring them both a glass of water – _(Nathan would have appreciated something a little stronger but acknowledged that his mind was probably impaired enough from shock and uncertainty)_ – Henry finally picked the datapad back up. “Now, why don’t you start at the beginning.”

Nathan took a sip of the water in his hands and stoically poured out the whole tale, from when he met Jackie Carter sixteen years ago to the conversation from earlier that evening. Henry was extremely patient, despite his understandable astonishment, only asking minor questions of clarification until they reached the end. His response was not what Nathan expected.

“Congratulations, Old Friend.” Henry reached across the table and patted his arm.

That was… _exactly_ what Nathan had needed to hear. _Congratulations. He was a father._ Henry hadn’t asked whether he was going to ignore this or embrace the new relationship – if Nathan had been contemplating choosing the former, he never would have shared the information. The younger scientist finally started to calm down and think clearly for the first time since Jackie Carter had exited his office earlier that evening. _Congratulations. He was a father._

He had always wanted to be a father, to have a family. That would probably astound many of his colleagues and subordinates, but he had never desired to be one of those reclusive geniuses who forewent all bonds of human affection to devote their lives, wholly and completely, to science. Unfortunately, things hadn’t turned out as he’d hoped. He adored Kevin, but Allison had always made it clear that he was _her_ son and his role was only as the backup for when she wasn’t available. Furthermore, Kevin needed so much special care that she’d rapidly nixed the idea of having more children the few times he’d tried to raise it. Nathan had told himself that it was enough. Despite Allison’s mindset, he was the only father Kevin had really known. Plus, he had had interns and mentees he occasionally bonded with – _(Callister…)_

But now the situation had changed. He had a biological daughter whose mother seemed willing to let him be the father he’d always wanted to be. Nothing was going to remain the same; he couldn't deny that. For one thing, he doubted there was any chance that Allison would accept this calmly. Even though Zoe had been conceived years before they’d even met, Allison was still territorial enough that she would never be able to accept the role of stepmother to Nathan’s bastard child. (Not that Nathan ever wanted to consider Zoe as such.) So, in pursuing this new relationship with his daughter _(his daughter!)_, he would likely be facing a divorce in his very near future. Yet, unlike when he first returned to Eureka that thought no longer felt like an admittance of failure, because Allison and Kevin were no longer his best and only chance at family.

/////////////

When Nathan had left Henry’s house that evening, he had determined his course and was eager to proceed with it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite that easy. 

He’d managed to schedule a meeting with Sheriff Carter for the next day – ostensibly to discuss G.D. policies and procedures, but actually to address his thoughts on Zoe. Jackie seemed pleased that he was so enthusiastic, although she became prickly when he tried to bring up child support and future college funds. Tabling that discussion (he could always create a trust fund for after she had graduated) – and the more complex dialog about long-term custody arrangements – Jackie addressed the matter of how to introduce him to Zoe. 

Except then the whole fiasco with Jason and Kim Anderson had happened, and thus over a week passed before they were able to schedule the event. _(He was glad he hadn’t had to arrest Sheriff Carter after all though; it would have made the Zoe situation even more awkward.)_

Finally, however, he was standing outside the bunker about to properly meet his daughter beyond the fleeting glimpses he’d had of her in town. _(He had needed to force himself not to stare at her like a creep the first time he’d seen her after her mother’s surprise revelation.)_ Jackie had invited him over for a family dinner, saying she’d explain everything to Zoe before he arrived. Entering cautiously, he looked around in vain for his daughter. 

Jackie, who had answered the door, noticed him glancing around the house and winced. “Zoe locked herself in her room,” she sighed.

“She took it that badly then.” He could admit to being disappointed, even though he couldn’t blame Zoe for reacting poorly. This was all rather sudden.

“Yeah, she’s not too happy with me right now. Maybe you could try talking to her; hers is the room on the left.”

Nathan mounted the stairs with even greater uncertainty than he’d had when descending into the bunker. This was going to be his first real conversation with _his daughter_, and it would be from behind a locked door. The noises he could faintly hear as he approached were not encouraging either.

Taking a calming breath, he knocked on the door. “Zoe?” The muffled yelling and thumping stopped abruptly, and he found himself holding his breath. After a seemingly interminable minute, the door opened, and a blonde head poked out looking at him with cautious hazel eyes. _Hazel_ eyes. Zoe’s eyes weren’t her mother’s blue, they were _his_ eyes. His throat went dry and he felt a rising swell of illogical _triumph/success/possessiveness_. He had a daughter. Zoe was _his_ daughter. 

Zoe also had her eyebrow raised sardonically as he continued to stand there staring at her like an idiot. He drew himself back together; he hadn’t been this far off his game in decades.

“May I come in?”

“I suppose.” Zoe shuffled out of the doorway and sat on her bed. She seemed torn between looking away awkwardly and staring avidly at his face and form, likely cataloguing the same similarities and differences as he himself.

“So how long have you known about me?” she asked, finally breaking the uneasy silence.

“Ah, only a few days actually.” Did she think he’d knowingly abandoned her?

“Wait, Mom never told you? How could she do that? I mean, I’m still pissed that she never told _me_, but…”

Nathan cut in before she could get a full head of steam. Apparently ranting and rambling were Carter family traits. “Did she tell you about how you were, ah, conceived?” 

A slightly disgusted face and a nod. “Yeah, well kind of…”

“It was a one-night stand. We were both on vacation and never expected to see each other again. She would have had very little information to go on in trying to track me down – and she did apparently try.”

Zoe slumped backwards. “I do think it’s totally unfair that she’s always lectured me on safe sex and abstinence, when apparently she got knocked up from a one-night stand.”

Nathan coughed and could feel his ears turning a little red. “Well, she probably wants you to make smarter choices.”

He did eventually persuade her to return to the dining room where they made clumsy small talk over dinner – him asking Zoe about her classes and hobbies, and her inquiring vaguely into his research and family. (The fact that Zoe also seemed intent on ignoring her mother completely did not help the awkwardness level, although at least Jackie Carter seemed to bear it gracefully and let the two of them stumble through their mutual interrogations.)

The one point that did bring out a strong reaction was when Zoe connected that he was still currently married to Allison – and hadn’t yet told her anything of the present situation. Since he didn’t want Zoe to blame herself for his likely eventual divorce (especially after she’d already been caught in the middle of her mother’s), he tried his best to emphasize the fact that he and Allison had been separated now for more than a year and had been having a lot of problems before that. (Sure, Zoe’s existence might in some ways prove to be the catalyst, but Nathan had accepted by now that a divorce was probably inevitable regardless.) He could see Jackie was eyeing him with a complicated expression on her face throughout his explanation, but he decided not to focus on that right now.

He did end up drawing the elder Carter into the conversation, however, when it came to when and how they would release the news of their biological connection to the town. He was adamant that he didn’t want Zoe to be a shameful secret, but since Eureka’s gossip mills could be as invasive as the paparazzi, he’d really rather be able to build an initial relationship without the whole town breathing down their necks. When Jackie pointed out the likely reaction of Zoe’s new classmates to the news that she was the daughter of not only the town sheriff, but also the big, bad, boss of Global Dynamics – Zoe was suddenly very on board with keeping things private for now.


	3. Balancing Acts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story actually moves forward, and Nathan has a long overdue talk with Allison.

Things were progressing well with Zoe – Nathan slipped over for dinner as often as he could, after which he usually sat with her in the dining room for a while to talk or assist her with homework, while Jackie watched sports in the living room. (A sarcastic comment about her TV habits had once led to a whole diatribe from Jackie about how great it was that SARAH was able to show all these women’s sports and how stupid it was that the networks generally didn’t give them as much airtime. Since Zoe had chimed in her agreement, even while rolling her eyes at her mother’s rant, he had decided to keep his further thoughts on the topic to himself.) 

Nathan relished the chance to get to know Zoe – sports appreciation included – trying to focus on all the years ahead and not the years he had lost. Nonetheless, he was starting to chafe at the minimal amount of time he was able to spend with Zoe and how Jackie was always around, even if in the other room. He couldn’t be sure if it was because Jackie didn’t yet trust him alone with Zoe _(he was still a near stranger in some ways, however little he liked to admit it)_ or if it was simply a symptom of the fact that he was coming over to the Carters’ house and she lived there. Whichever it was, Nathan wanted to be able to meet with Zoe at other locations, by themselves, even over at his house to share stories of the various photographs, knickknacks, and projects that decorated his walls and shelves. He wasn’t entirely sure he was ready to hear the verdict of the town’s judgement, but he wanted to be able to acknowledge her openly.

It was particularly frustrating because he was facing an identical problem in trying to spend any time with Kevin. Despite his expectation that he and Allison were irreconcilable, he was determined to re-forge his bonds with Kevin. Allison was proving reluctant, however, only allowing him access at her home when she was there to supervise. _(And she didn’t even have the excuse of not fully trusting a stranger.)_ This was compounded by the fact that his relationship with Allison was currently stalled – he was no longer actively trying to woo her but hadn’t quite wanted to preemptively file for divorce when things hadn’t yet reached a head, and she likewise hadn’t made any definitive sign she wanted to either take him back or permanently ask him to leave.

He also still hadn’t told her anything about Zoe.

The one other person beyond Henry who did immediately find out about Nathan and Zoe’s new familial relationship was Adam Green, Jackie Carter’s ex-husband and Zoe’s stepfather. Since he still retained partial custody of Zoe, it was necessary that he be informed of Nathan wanting to take an active role in his daughter’s life. _(Thus, the situation was completely different from how Nathan was avoiding informing his own maybe-ex-spouse.)_ Furthermore, Zoe still talked with her other father on the phone periodically and it wouldn’t have been fair to force her to keep it a secret from him.

Nathan was not present for either initial conversation with Adam – Jackie breaking the news, or Zoe talking to him after. He was desperately curious how the two women had described the situation, but since there was no sign of a face-to-face confrontation in his future, he could only assume Adam had accepted facts at least somewhat graciously.

He had a harder time on his part trying to restrain his own jealousy. This man had had the privilege of being part of Zoe’s life for sixteen years. Sixteen years that he, Nathan, had missed and would never get back. Moreover, while Zoe generally avoided talking about Adam when Nathan was around, when she did mention him it was under the appellation of “Dad” as compared to his own “Nathan.” Despite his internal jealousy, he tried to not to act like a hypocrite – after all he was quite aware of the fact that blood ties were not a requirement of parental bonds, especially when Adam had been there all her life and helped raise her. Of course they both still cared about each other, and Nathan’s being there for only a few weeks would not alter that.

/////////////

The rest of the town found out in true Eureka fashion.

Sheriff Carter took a few hard knocks while trying to contain a small explosion. Since some of those knocks were to the frontal lobe, the doctors had demanded she stay in the infirmary for a few days for monitoring. Zoe needed an adult to stay with her and decided she’d rather have Nathan than Jo, _(something he was rather smugly pleased about)_. There was no way that would be acceptable without fully explaining the whole situation and their familial connection. Luckily, he and Jackie had already signed much of the necessary paperwork in preparation for filing it with the school and their personnel files. (Signing it in advance of actually being ready to file it was for just such a contingency as this one.)

The reveal could have gone much worse, he supposed. It could have been _Zoe_ who was injured and him unable to initially go in to see her. Or it could have been more dramatic with Zoe crying out “Dad!” upon seeing _him_ incapacitated. (Even if he still hadn’t otherwise earned that title.) 

As it actually unfolded, it was primarily just awkward since he had to do most of the explaining with Jackie unconscious and hence not there to back him up and verify that he was telling the truth. Zoe loyally stood by him (leaning on him for comfort, actually), and Henry testified that he’d seen the data from the DNA test. Much to his annoyance, some of the doctors still didn’t believe them, however, until he and Zoe consented to a fresh blood test. _(He wouldn’t have bothered, since the paperwork took care of the legal aspect, but he knew how rumors in Eureka worked if there weren’t enough hard facts to support the data.)_

When Nathan had daydreamed of having Zoe all to himself, he hadn’t quite pictured suddenly being her sole caretaker for several days. Sure, Zoe was a teenager and didn’t require as much oversight as a small child, plus SARAH was happy to assist in any and all caretaking. Nonetheless, he still needed to drive her to and from school each day and take care of all the other small parental duties, _(similar and yet different from caring for Kevin)_. He also discovered that SARAH was not quite as reliable as he had hoped, _(some of Jackie’s past grumbling rants now making more sense)_, after various incidents involving Zoe’s attempts at coffee and ice cream for breakfast or watching movies he was pretty sure Jackie had banned. When confronted, Zoe had tried to insist that her mother was fine with it and appealed to SARAH as backup. The A.I. was not that good a liar however, and Nathan easily proved that however good a blackmailer his daughter might be – he was still better.

One downside of the news coming out the way it did was that he was stuck as the main focus of gossip without Jackie there to divert any of the attention. He had been hearing any number of comments, both surprised and snide, about his _playing house_. (He had made sure no one was bothering _Zoe_ about anything though. After she came home from school the first day clearly discomfited, he had called the Tesla principal and made his displeasure quite fully known.) On the other hand, he was somewhat glad to have spared Jackie the worst of Allison’s initial reaction.

Allison had _not_ been pleased to find out about Nathan’s new daughter through the gossip chain. Nor was she pleased that the gossip chain had made note of the fact that she was clearly uninformed about the whole affair. _Literal affair, in this case._ True to form, she ignored and avoided him for the first twenty-four hours while her anger simmered, then confronted him at the most inopportune time when she finally boiled over. Luckily, Nathan managed to drive Fargo out of the room and shut his office door before all their dirty laundry was aired in public.

The conversation, if it could be called that, fell apart very quickly. Allison wasn’t interested in hearing the truth – that Jackie Carter had been a one-night stand long pre-dating their marriage – she wanted to know why Nathan had never told her about it. And while he could admit that he had purposely avoided informing her about Zoe, she almost seemed upset for not having known his complete dating history – which was a little ridiculous. Then, when Nathan declared his intention of introducing Kevin and Zoe to each other, Allison immediately seized on the mention of her son.

“I don’t know why you keep harping on about Kevin needing time with you. You have your own kid now, and that’s what you’ve apparently always wanted, isn’t it?”

“I am not incapable of loving more than one child; people do it all the time. And Kevin has been my son for _seven years_.” Nathan was beyond frustrated by Allison’s continued denial of that fact.

She just scoffed. “It’s not like you were ever his _real_ father.”

“We may not share the same DNA, but I am the only father he’s ever known,” Nathan growled, “and while it may be unfair that Kevin never got to know his biological father, it’s still the truth. Zoe didn’t stop loving her step-father just because he’s no longer married to her mom – he even still retains partial custody.”

“Oh, so just because _Jackie Carter_ did it, that suddenly makes me a monster here.”

“No, it makes you unreasonable.” Nathan rolled his eyes.

“I am not being _unreasonable_! What is unreasonable is that you come here demanding to be Kevin’s father after disappearing from his life for almost a year!”

The conversation just degenerated from there. Any mention of Zoe or Jackie or Kevin had Allison up in arms. (At least none of the people in question were present to witness the fight.) One thing was clear by the end, however; there was definitely going to be divorce papers on his desk by the end of the week, and he was going to get a damn good lawyer to work on getting him partial custody of _both_ his kids.


End file.
